Method of publication and distribution of instructional materials
First Claim
1. A system for publication and distribution of educational materials, the system comprising:
- at least one host computer capable ofreceiving over a communications network one or more educational works from at least one author of the educational works, at least one of the one or more educational works having a plurality of segments, each segment having one or more identified authors,storing the educational works,receiving over a communications network one or more selections of at least one of the plurality of segments,retrieving the selected segments from the one or more educational works,producing a compilation of educational course materials containing at least the selected segments,receiving a selection from a purchaser of one or more segments of the compilation for purchase,recording payment by the purchaser for the selected one or more segments of the compilation,distributing a copy of only the one or more selected segments of the compilation to the purchaser for which payment has been recorded, andpaying a royalty to the one or more identified authors for a purchased segment.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for the electronic publication and distribution of customized educational materials comprises an educator compiling a set of customized educational course materials from selected segments of educational works stored in an educational materials database of available materials (150-180), and indexing the set of customized educational course materials in an electronic database where it is available for purchase in an electronic format by students (270, 277). Copyright infringement is discouraged by providing the educator the option of electronic testing and grading of only those students that have purchased the educational materials. Hence, only such students are eligible to receive a grade in the class (265, 280). The customized educational course materials are easily updated without the publisher incurring traditional printing and distribution costs, simultaneously reducing the time to market for new editions of educational materials.
33 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A system for publication and distribution of educational materials, the system comprising:
at least one host computer capable of receiving over a communications network one or more educational works from at least one author of the educational works, at least one of the one or more educational works having a plurality of segments, each segment having one or more identified authors, storing the educational works, receiving over a communications network one or more selections of at least one of the plurality of segments, retrieving the selected segments from the one or more educational works, producing a compilation of educational course materials containing at least the selected segments, receiving a selection from a purchaser of one or more segments of the compilation for purchase, recording payment by the purchaser for the selected one or more segments of the compilation, distributing a copy of only the one or more selected segments of the compilation to the purchaser for which payment has been recorded, and paying a royalty to the one or more identified authors for a purchased segment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for publication and distribution of educational materials, the system comprising:
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at least one host computer, one or more educational works stored on the at least one host computer, at least one of the educational works having a plurality of segments, the host computer being capable of receiving over a communications network one or more selections of at least one of the plurality of segments, retrieving the selected segments from the one or more educational works, producing a compilation of educational course materials containing at least the selected segments, receiving over a communications network one or more orders for purchase of a selected one or more of the segments of the compilation, recording payment for the selected one or more segments, and distributing a copy of only the one or more selected segments of the compilation to the purchaser for which payment has been recorded wherein;
a royalty is made payable to at least one author of one or more of the selected segments of the compilation upon purchase of the one or more segments.
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14. A system for publication and distribution of educational materials, the system comprising:
at least one host computer capable of receiving over a communications network one or more educational works from at least one author of the works, at least one of the educational works having a plurality of segments, storing the one or more educational works, receiving one or more selections made by an instructor from an instructor client computer of one or more of the plurality of segments, retrieving the selected segments of the educational works, producing a compilation of educational course materials containing the selected segments, distributing a copy of only the one or more individual segments of the compilation to a purchaser of the one or more segments wherein;
a royalty is made payable to the at least one author of one of the segments of the compilation upon purchase of the segment.- View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for publication and distribution of educational materials, the system comprising:
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at least one host computer, at least one author client computer into which one or more educational works is entered, said author client computer being capable of communicating the one or more educational works to the host computer over a communications network, the host computer being capable of storing the one or more educational works, each of the educational works including a plurality of segments, at least one instructor client computer into which is entered one or more selections of segments of the one or more educational works for producing a compilation of educational course materials for an identified class, said instructor client computer being capable of communicating the selections to the host computer over a communications network, the host computer being capable of retrieving the selections from the one or more educational works, producing a compilation of educational course materials containing the selected segments, storing the compilation, and associating the compilation with the class, and at least one student client computer into which one or more orders for purchase of one or more of the segments of the compilation is entered, the student client computer being capable of communicating the orders for purchase to the host computer over a communications network, the host computer being capable of retrieving the one or more segments identified in the one or more orders for purchase, and distributing a copy of only the identified segments to the student client computer if payment for the identified segments has been recorded, wherein, a royalty is communicated upon receiving orders for purchase of the identified one or more segments to the at least one author client computer. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A method for publication and distribution of educational materials, the method comprising:
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receiving by at least one host computer one or more educational works over a communications network from at least one author of the one or more educational works, storing the one or more educational works on the host computer, at least one of the one or more educational works having a plurality of segments, receiving from an instructor one or more selections of one or more of the plurality of segments over a communications network, retrieving the one or more selected segments from the one or more educational works, producing a compilation of educational course materials including the one or more selected segments, storing the compilation, recording payment by a purchaser for one or more of the segments of the compilation, distributing to the purchaser a copy of only the one or more segments of the compilation for which payment has been recorded, and sending a predetermined royalty to the at least one author of the segment of the one or more educational works. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method for publication and distribution of educational materials, the method comprising:
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receiving one or more educational works over a communications network by at least one host computer, at least one of the one or more educational works having a plurality of segments, storing the educational works on the host computer to produce an educational materials database, receiving one or more selections of one or more of the plurality of segments of at least one of the educational works over a communications network, retrieving the selected segments of the educational works from the educational materials database, producing a compilation of educational course materials containing the selected segments, storing the compilation on the host computer, associating the compilation with a class, receiving over a communications network one or more orders for purchase of an identified one or more of the segments of the compilation, retrieving the identified segments of the compilation from the educational course materials database, recording payment for the identified segments, distributing a copy of only the identified segments to a student client computer for use by a student in the class, and sending a predetermined royalty to at least one author of the identified one or more segments.
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Specification